


When You Love Somebody

by hansen



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Falling In Love, M/M, Miscommunication, Mutual Pining, Pining, Post-Canon, also ive since realized that theyre from new jersey im just slow im sorry, i wrote this because no fandom is complete w/o a fake dating fic, theyre from illinois in this, this is all post-squip stuff...
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-10-26 13:27:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10787604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hansen/pseuds/hansen
Summary: Jeremy Heere turns a slip of the tongue into the biggest mistake of the century. Michael Mell is just stupid enough to go along with it.





	1. The Michael Incident

**Author's Note:**

> so idk if anyones written a fake dating fic for these boys yet but. here we are. so,,  
> i hope you enjoy!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy's decision to ignore his dad on the phone backfires.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was beta'd by the lovely isaiah (@mikeymell on tumblr) !!  
> (also i have no idea how to write michael so Please tell me if hes terrible and ooc lmao-)  
> anyway enjoy these budding young homosexuals yall

Jeremy Heere had mastered the art of ignoring everything his father said.

In fact, he’d gotten it so down to a science that he’d developed something called the Cycle: the same four phrases that could convince his father that Jeremy was deeply engaged in their discussion about Aunt Linda’s fiftieth birthday party. That was what his father was talking about, Jeremy noted once he momentarily tuned back in. That was truly the beauty of the Cycle. Jeremy could be engaged in a conversation, all while only catching three of the presumably several hundred words that his dad says in a single conversation. 

The Cycle proved most effective during phone calls, much like the one he was on now, with his dad getting so caught up in his own storytelling that he forgets Jeremy was still on the line. With any other person, Jeremy'd probably be too scared to use his Cycle method. He wouldn't be able to tell through facial expressions how the person on the other end was _judging_ him. Then again, he was talking to his dad, so the Cycle it was.  He leaned back in his desk chair and looked down at the mess of work in front of him. Internally, there was a struggle: listen to his father go on about his aging sister’s birthday party, or try to tackle the English essay he’d been putting off for a month.

The birthday party of a fifty-year-old woman was suddenly the most enthralling topic Jeremy could think of.

"Do you think I should call PETA?" Dad said, and Jeremy bit back an ill-advised "uh huh" (that was Phrase Three in the Cycle). What did PETA have to do with Aunt Linda’s birthday? Jeremy didn’t want to know. 

Instead, he shook his head as though his father could see the look of disapproval on his face. "No, Dad. I’m sure you can fix the problem yourself. It’s a man’s job.”

‘It’s a man’s job’ was Jeremy’s dad’s favorite saying. It was invigorating for the manly spirit… Or something. It’d been another conversation Jeremy had tuned out of. All Jeremy knew that it was a phrase that could make his dad do anything.

“You’re right,” his dad said predictably. “I’ll just get Pesticide… That probably works on raccoons, right?” The response to that was the “uh huh” Jeremy had been pointedly holding back for so long. It took a lot out of him, listening to his father. There were only so many terrible ideas he could prevent from happening, and k eeping his father out of trouble was a high school duty that he had officially retired from after graduating.

Jeremy stood from his stiff desk chair and stretched, reveling in the popping sounds he produced. His dad kept talking, but Jeremy was far from listening. The sound of the door opening and someone coming inside was far more interesting to Jeremy’s ears, because those things meant only one thing: Michael was home. 

He looked exhausted. More often than not nowadays, he was staying up until the twos and threes and fours of the early morning to get last-minute assignments done. Jeremy greeted Michael with a sympathetic smile. He gestured wordlessly to his phone, indicating that someone was on the line. Michael didn’t seem to care, dropping his bag on the floor and immediately joining it there. It was impossible to muffle his giggle. Michael lying face-down on the floor was admittedly cute. 

Jeremy stepped around the heaping laundry basket in the middle of the dorm to reach Michael. They really should’ve cleaned their dorm more, but it was a meticulously-designed mess. The dorms at community college were small and probably unfit for two people to live in at the same time, but Jeremy and Michael were in-sync enough to make it work.

The phone on Jeremy’s desk still hummed with the sound of his father’s rambling. Jeremy didn’t care. Michael was more important.

“Michael,” he said softly, crouching next to his sleepy best friend, whose face was buried in his arms. Michael made no indication that he even noticed Jeremy’s presence. “Miiichael,” Jeremy tried again, louder.

The third “Michael” that came was not from Jeremy’s mouth, but from the phone on his desk. Jesus, his dad was loud. He wasn’t even on speaker phone, but the shout was enough to shake Michael out of his apparent nap. He lifted his head from his arms, somehow startled and sleepy at the same time. “Huhwha—?” he said intelligently. Jeremy would’ve smiled at him if he weren’t scrambling for his phone.

“What—?” Jeremy started to ask, but his dad cut him off.

“I always knew the two of you had a little… thing for each other. Ever since third grade, when you gave him a kiss on the cheek, I think…” 

Jeremy was lost. “Had a— What are you  _ talking  _ about?”

He could practically hear the confused look on his dad’s face. “What am  _ I  _ talking about? I believe it’s news to me that you’re bringing Michael to your aunt’s birthday as your date.” 

Jeremy sputtered, his eyes widening. The concerned look Michael was giving him wasn’t helping the guilt that was already building up in his chest. “No— Dad, I’m not— We’re not—”

“You don’t have to lie to me, son. It’s okay. I’ll always love you, y’know.” It was almost unsettling how comforted Jeremy felt by his father’s reassurances. He didn’t need his dad to accept him for being gay when he  _ wasn’t gay.  _

Maybe the sentimental piece of his heart overrode the logical center of his brain, because instead of clearing up the misunderstanding, Jeremy nodded. “Y-Yeah, I know. Uh— We’ll— We’ll be… there…”

There was an excited noise on the other end, and if Jeremy didn’t know any better, he would’ve thought his dad was an excited 13-year-old girl at a Justin Bieber concert. It wasn’t very manly, but it was hardly the worst of the situation. “Y’know, we were all getting a little worried that you were never gonna grow out of that ‘awkward wallflower’ phase you went through in high school. I’m proud of you, son. You’re in  _ college  _ and you’ve got yourself a  _ boyfriend _ .” 

Jesus Christ. 

“College…” Jeremy echoed. “Boyfriend. Michael. Right.”

Jeremy forgot to listen to the rest of the conversation. The Cycle had kicked back in, and after a sufficient amount of “I know, Dad”s and “Yeah, I’m following”s and “Uh huh”s and “I’ll keep that in mind”s, the conversation was over. Michael was still staring at him. At least he was wide awake. 

“What’d he say?” Michael asked. He looked nervous, as if he thought he was in trouble. 

Jeremy sighed. He sort of felt like crying and he didn’t know why. He didn’t cry. Instead, he sank back into his desk chair. “I messed up, man. I dunno what I was thinking… I— I just— I didn’t wanna  _ disappoint  _ him, y’know—?”

Noticing the rising levels of panic in Jeremy’s voice, Michael scrambled to his feet and crouched in front of Jeremy, placing a comforting hand on his knee. It calmed his nerves almost instantly. “Hey, it’s okay…” Michael said in the most reassuring voice that Jeremy could probably never get sick of if he tried. He felt himself relax against the rhythm of Michael’s thumb rubbing circles against his knee. “You didn’t mess up, it’s okay. Just tell me what happened.” 

Jeremy couldn’t lie — not to Michael. He deserved to know. “Um,” he tried. “We have to go to my Aunt Linda’s birthday…”

“Oh,” Michael’s lips quirked into a confused smile. “That’s not so bad—”

“No, Michael, I mean— Like— We have to go as a  _ couple _ . Like a— Like  _ boyfriends _ .”

“...Oh.” A less enthusiastic “oh” this time. Jeremy winced. He started to apologize, but Michael squeezed his knee in a way that told him to shut up. “That’s okay too. I don’t know  _ how  _ you managed, in the—” He stole a glance at his watch, as if it were accurately synced up to time of day (it wasn’t). “—three minutes I’ve been home, to unintentionally convince your dad that we’ve been doin’ it since college started, but it’s okay. We can, like… pretend to be boyfriend-and-girlfriend— well, boyfriend-and-boyfriend, I guess. Just for a few days, right?”

Just for a few days. It’d be easy. People in high school had called Michael and Jeremy gay for each other all the time. They were already pretty convincing as they were. They were yet to grow out of their elementary school nicknames, ("Mikey, I'm not gonna be in school for fifth period, can you get the homework?" "Yeah, Jere Bear, I got you.") , they saw no problem with holding each other's hands in public places, and they had matching tattoos, for God's sake. They probably practiced more PDA than _actual_ gay couples. If Jeremy didn't know any better, he'd say Michael _like-liked_ him, but that was stupid because if Michael was into him, he probably would've made a move by now.

Jeremy seriously needed to stop thinking about Michael and romance at the same time. It wasn't healthy. He nodded to ground himself back to the situation at hand and Michael stood. “Your dad loves me,” Michael reassured him, a goofy grin on his face. The kind of grin that Jeremy could really only tolerate when it was coming from Michael. There were a lot of things that Jeremy hated from everyone but Michael. “We’ll be okay.”

Jeremy believed him.


	2. The Airport

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy and Michael wait in an airport. Michael has some doubts, but Jeremy's always there to bring him back to Earth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaa oh my gosh!!! i just wanna say thank you so so so much to everyone who read the first chapter? all the hits and kudos and comments are super motivating and sweet !!! thank you thank you thank you all !!  
> this chapter was once again beta'd by my lovely boyfriend isaiah (@mikeymell on tumblr)  
> enjoy chapter 2!! <3

No one could blame Michael and Jeremy for wanting to get the fuck out of the little town they’d grown up in. It wasn’t as if they didn’t love the town and its people, but deep down they knew that they’d be stuck in an uneventful rut for the rest of their lives if they chose to attend community college. That was why they’d packed up their things and moved from the racist little town of Pekin, Illinois to New York City. For the most part, it was good. They were Independent Adults who did Independent Adult things, like making their own doctor’s appointment and learning how to cook basic meals.

However, living so far away from home meant one thing that Jeremy  _ hated _ : flying.

The whole experience of booking a flight and packing his things and  _ unpacking  _ his things and  _ re-packing  _ his things and thinking he’ll miss his flight but then he gets there and realizes it’s been delayed nine hours -- it was all  _ way  _ too stressful for Jeremy. He’d practically begged Michael to just drive down to Illinois, but Michael was having none of it. “Consider it payback for turning me into your pretend boyfriend for the week,” he’d said, without malice.

Right. That had silenced any qualms Jeremy had about flying. Though Michael had assured him countless times that he wasn’t upset over the whole “fake boyfriend” situation, Jeremy still had his doubts. 

They hadn’t  _ really  _ talked about it. They’d discussed how they were going to act and decided that they didn’t have to change much about their behavior to be convincing. After all, Jeremy’s dad  _ did  _ already think Michael and Jeremy had had “a thing” for each other all along. Besides, it’d be weird to  _ pretend  _ anything around Michael. Michael was the only person Jeremy could be completely himself around. Adding anything to that would surely make everyone suspicious. 

Nothing was going to change. Michael and Jeremy were going to go to Illinois for a week and pretend to be boyfriends, but nothing was going to change. When they got back to New York and -- more importantly -- got back to being just friends, everything was going to be blissfully the same.

\---

Jeremy  _ knew  _ the flight was going to be delayed. Even as Michael shoved Jeremy out of the dorm and into the Uber they’d called, Jeremy knew it was a baseless effort. His expectations were confirmed to be a cruel reality when he and Michael arrived at the airport, panting and flushed in all their anxious barely-adult glory, only to be told that their flight had in fact been delayed an hour.

Jeremy led the way to a pair of empty seats in the airport while Michael pouted. As they sat down and clunked their luggage on the floor in front of them, Jeremy fitted Michael with a cocky look. Accepting defeat, Michael sighed. “Fine. Lay it on me.”

“I  _ told  _ you so.” 

At that inevitable comment, Michael groaned. “Fine, whatever, you told me so. I already don’t wanna do this. You really gotta rub it in too?”

That was kind of harsh and Michael knew it. Jeremy could see the regret in the downturn of his lips. Michael started to apologize, but Jeremy nudged his knee. “Don’t worry about it. You’re right. This stupid mess is all my fault, man.” 

Michael’s smile was thin. “Yeah, it kind of is.” His shoulders were stiff and it made Jeremy feel sick. He knew this was his fault. Jeremy figured Michael was getting anxious about the whole romantic aspect of their pretend-dating scheme, which was admittedly going to be a little weird, but nothing to get this worked up about, right? 

“It’s-- It’s gonna be okay, y’know? Only a few days, remember? We’ll be okay.” Jeremy reached out to touch Michael’s arm, but to both of their surprises, Michael flinched back. 

Michael’s eyes were wide and Jeremy could see panic slowly starting to creep into them. They were deafeningly silent for a moment. Jeremy’s hand was frozen in mid-air and Michael seemed to have stopped breathing. 

“Michael?” 

“I don’t think I can  _ do  _ this!” Michael’s voice was inappropriately loud for a public setting. He didn’t seem to notice. His eyes were boring into Jeremy’s like a plea for help. 

Jeremy started to speak, but when he noticed Michael’s hands shaking in his lap, the words died in his throat. Slowly, Jeremy moved his hands to Michael’s, and this time Michael didn’t pull away. Jeremy scooted closer and pressed his shoulder against Michael’s as he covered the trembling hands in Michael’s lap. “Hey, it’s okay… We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. I can-- I can come up with some excuse, it’ll be okay…” Michael was still  _ staring  _ at Jeremy. It gave Jeremy the sickly feeling that he’d done something terribly wrong.

Abruptly, Michael ducked his head, hiding his face in the crook of Jeremy’s neck. Jeremy stilled momentarily, his hands hovering awkwardly around Michael’s back. His uncertain hands settled in separate places: one on Michael’s back and one in Michael’s hair. He could feel Michael sigh against his neck. Maybe he was helping. Jeremy slowly combed his fingers through Michael’s hair, letting his fingertips graze along Michael’s scalp. He didn’t say a word.

They stayed that way for a while, with Jeremy carding his fingers through Michael’s hair and tracing the length of his spine with his fingertips while Michael tried to steady his breathing. Jeremy wouldn’t ask why Michael was so freaked out. He knew better than to do that.

“I think I’m okay.” 

Michael’s voice startled Jeremy out of the sleepy state he’d settled into. There was a moment’s hesitation before Michael retracted himself from Jeremy’s neck. His eyes were red and puffy. Jeremy’s chest burned.

“All better?” Jeremy tried.

“All better.” Michael rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. “Sorry for freakin’ out there.”

Jeremy shook his head. “It’s, um… It’s no biggie. I’ll call my dad and tell him we’re not coming--” 

“Woah, what?” Michael’s eyebrows furrowed in that ‘Jeremy, you idiot, what are you talking about?’ sort of way. “We’re definitely going. I didn’t cry my eyes out like a little bitch just to go  _ home _ .”

Jeremy stared at Michael like he was fucking crazy. “So after all that, we’re still going?”

“Yes.”

“And we’re gonna be boyfriends?”

“Jeremiah Heere, I’m gonna be the best goddamn boyfriend you’ve ever had.”

“I’ve never had a boyfriend, Michael.”

“ _ Exactly _ .”

Michael was grinning in spite of the tear tracks on his face. Without thinking, Jeremy pulled the end of his sleeve over his hand and wiped the tears off Michael’s cheeks. It was a simple gesture, but it made Michael’s eyes flutter and his grin drop to a dazed little frown. Jeremy gave a small smile in return. “You’re a dork.”

Michael’s frown turned into a pout, his bottom lip jutting out in such a way that Jeremy felt it was teasing him. “Am not!”

Jeremy sank into his seat, a small grin playing on his lips. “Are too,” he countered. He felt warm; pleased to have Michael feeling better. Michael settled in his seat next to Jeremy. Their chairs were still pushed together and neither made any effort to change that.

Just as Jeremy started to feel empty without the weight of Michael against him, Michael leaned sideways and rested his head against Jeremy’s shoulder.

Jeremy turned his head, his nose burying into Michael’s hair. “What’re you doing?” he murmured.

Instead of an answer, Michael gave Jeremy a yawn. Crying must have tired him out. He tilted his head back to look up at Jeremy through his eyelashes. Jeremy’s heart dropped to his stomach. Michael’s grin was soft and sleepy and lazy and everything that made Jeremy’s breath hitch in his throat.

“Method acting.” Michael finally said. He looked pretty pleased with his response.

Jeremy rolled his eyes in spite of the fond grin that he couldn’t bite back. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Go to sleep, Michael.”

Michael didn’t have to be told twice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also lmao,,, please know that i dont think everyone from pekin illinois is rACIST FGNGJK,, i just know someone from there and they made a joke about it so i put it in!!

**Author's Note:**

> constructive criticism is always welcome.  
> comments and kudos appreciated! <3
> 
> tumblr: @jeremiahheere


End file.
